Blue Silk
by electric gurrl
Summary: Azula is forced to choose a bride; Ty Lee finds herself betrothed to a monster. AU. Tyzula. Complete.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: **Some Quick Facts About This Fic:**

**Chapters: **4 chapters. It's short but, to be honest, the idea couldn't last long without running dry.

**Pairings: **Ty Lee / Azula. Slight Mai/Azula.

**Rated: **M for lemons, coarse language and some dark themes, as well as dubious consent and a hefty dose of Stockholm Syndrome.

**Notes: **Straight up this fic exists solely for smut, but there is a plot that connects the sexual situations. Inspired by Sansa and the Lannisters in _Game of Thrones_. But really guys, this is just smut.

* * *

><p><em>"Give yourself over to absolute pleasure." - The Rocky Horror Picture Show<em>

* * *

><p>Chapter One<p>

* * *

><p>"You're going to marry," father says, looking at Ty Lee. She pauses, lips pursed. She supposes she imagined the day would come when father would decide someone, but she did not expect it so soon. "You're going to marry royalty."<p>

Ty Lee's eyebrows shoot up. "Prince Zuko?" she murmurs, disgusted at the thought.

Three weeks ago she went to the palace dressed in her most sexually appealing clothes. She spoke to a woman jotting notes and probably sounded like a moron; she usually does. And the prince and princess watched on either side of their father on a balcony above, studying the few dozen girls with care.

Ty Lee recognized girls from all four nations, but she did not expect to be chosen. She is _hot _yes, with nice tits and a gorgeous body and a charm as sweet as honey, but she did not expect royalty to choose her to be a bride.

Father shakes his head. "Princess Azula."

Ty Lee's stomach plummets. She does not know what else to say, other than the Princess gathered the title Princess Azula the Conqueror for defeating Earth Kingdom cities until she infiltrated Ba Sing Se and might as well have won the war. She is dominating, cold, and strikes fear into the heart of anyone she comes across. Princess Azula claims what she believes to be hers, and is a prodigious firebender.

Beautiful, clever and terrible.

This is not what Ty Lee wants.

"And I need to marry to unite your kingdom with another," Ty Lee murmurs, looking at the missing tapestries and silver. They were sold in hopes of regaining her father's status, his money, his life as a retired Admiral. But if he marries off his eldest daughter, he may have all of that. "Political power. A union with the reigning family. I'm not as dumb as I pretend to be, father."

"Yes. It's a perfect political move. If you marry Princess Azula, and she chose you from many options her father gave her, then I will be united to the sole most powerful family in history," father says coldly, casually. Ty Lee nods again, unsure what else to say. "I would let the whole Fire Nation fuck you if it meant gaining that kind of power. And, believe me, Princess Azula wants to fuck you. You'll learn to love her, I'm sure of it."

Ty Lee has little else to say. She simply looks at her breakfast, no longer with an appetite.

* * *

><p>"Your wife will satisfy you," Prince Zuko says, which disturbs Azula slightly. It is not any of her brother's business what goes on in her boudoir.<p>

"Like _your _wife satisfies _me_, brother" Azula snaps, cocking an eyebrow at him. He grits his teeth as his hands smoke profusely. He _knows _about Azula's relationship with Mai, and it gives her great pleasure. He can do nothing about it, because Azula is father's favorite. It must _torment _him knowing that his wife has fucked his sister. She believes he is being so _involved _in the marriage because he wants her to take her hands off of his girl. How cute.

"Father thought you would like this, Azula," he snarls, tossing dresses on the bed. "You _like _her, and that matters."

He is trying to be _nice_. Azula wonders what he was bribed with. Princess Azula pities the girl who is about to be thrust into the royal family, which is filled with people who claim to love each other, but don't even _like _each other.

They are forced to spend time together. It almost physically pains Azula and makes Zuko want to vomit sometimes. Father seems to enjoy their loathing for each other, probably because he hates his own brother. So he does things like force them to get ready for dinner together. And it is going about as well as it usually does.

"And she'll just have to learn to love me," Azula remarks cavalierly and Zuko is unsure what to make of it. He honestly just wants to get out of Azula's room and away from his unbearable sister. "Father is using us as political pawns. We have to rise above if one of us wants to claim the throne."

Azula pulls off her shirt and Zuko tries not to let his eyes stray to the perfect curve of her breasts and her pallid, slender form. She looks good. She pulls on a red dress, hanging from her body in a way that caresses everything that Zuko refuses to admit he would like to touch, refuses to admit because Azula is his worst enemy, his rival for the throne, and the tormentor of his childhood.

"Just meet your bride," Zuko says, walking to her slowly. "Didn't you choose her out of so many options?"

"Yes. Father means well, or so I think," Azula murmurs, clearly dissecting father's actions. Zuko slides his hand to her arm. She smirks at the slight pressure. Trying to be _kind _to her; how disgusting. "He let me choose my bride from the options. I'd rather have a Fire Nation colony bride than a Water Tribe whore. Especially one I once dated, above all of that."

"The marriage will have to do. I won't _mind _fucking her. But the throne takes priority."

"You know, I'm older than you."

"You know, father hates you because he considers you a miserable failure and an embarrassment. I have far more of a chance at the throne than you ever will," Azula says sharply and Zuko snorts. He has little else to say, save for the fact that Azula is agonistic to deal with.

"I'm sorry for offending Miss Perfect," Zuko snarls and Azula smirks. It was an odd afternoon when father sent Zuko to help Azula ready herself for the dinner with Ty Lee and her father. The servants would be far preferable, so obviously he meant for something more to happen than for Azula to mock Zuko and for old feelings to mildly surface. He meant for them to _bond_, or _fight_, or anything involving their desire for the throne.

The man likes to pit his children against each other.

"Just run along, ZuZu. I have to go get my hair done." She examines herself briefly in the mirror and walks to find the servants. Zuko remains behind, his eyes following her as she leaves. He thinks that father is playing at something, and he desires nothing more than to know what.

_"I want her," Azula says, sipping a drink as if this is a casual event. She looks at the line-up of girls, all at the party looking blissful. The one she gazes at steals all of the male attention, but there is something about her that Azula is drawn to._

_ "Her?" father snarls, cocking an eyebrow. Azula shrugs faintly. "Wouldn't you rather the Water Tribe girl?"_

_ "I like her. She arouses me. Is there a better reason, father? I will choose who you desire me to choose," Azula says smoothly, wrapping her father around her little finger as she speaks. He purses his lips._

_ "If you want her," he finally says, "you will have her."_

_ Azula smirks. She knew she would get what she wanted._

Later that night, Ty Lee meets Azula in an overly dramatic affair. She wears blue silk lingerie with a shade of red dress that she chose because it brought out her eyes. It is uncomfortable beneath her clothes, but her mother had her put it on for the pleasure of the princess. Her hair is done in a more intricate braid than usual as she carries fire lilies in her hands.

Azula is sitting in the throne room. She looks elaborately made up, hair tied beautifully into a crimson crown. Her dress caresses her curves and her hard nipples are visible through the fabric. Ty Lee chokes slightly at the sight; she did not expect it to be so _hot_.

Princess Azula of the Fire Nation radiates fear from her like the sun radiates heat. Ty Lee feels tongue-tied as she feebly hands over her flowers. Azula accepts them and examines them with mild distaste before offering a fake smile.

"These are nice," Azula says as she was trained to do. Ty Lee notices that she is well spoken as they are guided into the dining room. "So you're from the Colony Kingdom?"

Ty Lee nods.

"Started by my grandfather. How cute," Azula purrs, sitting down at the dinner table. Ty Lee sits across from her, as her mother told her to do.

"This union will be joyous," father says, and it is more of a threat than a comment. He sits down, Zuko and Mai at the other side of the table, and the food is served.

Ty Lee finds it delicious, but she tries to focus on the conversation. It is politics bouncing back and forth. Azula is clearly trying to up show Zuko, and she is winning. Ozai drinks in the words of Princess Azula, which Ty Lee must admit are intelligent, and corrects everything his son says. It is intriguing.

"Azula," Ozai finally says, "go spend time with your bride. Show her the hot springs or the gardens."

Azula nods with a bow of respect to the Fire Lord. As Ty Lee gets up, she briefly grovels, before pushing herself to her feet and walking beside her new fiancée.

"You look very pretty, princess," Ty Lee says, examining Azula.

"Yes, your eyes do keep darting to my tits," she says and Ty Lee chokes, blushing bright pink. Her eyes widen, her lips small, and she makes a face that should belong to a baby animal.

They walk through the gardens and Ty Lee is intoxicated by them. She has never seen so many beautiful flowers in once place. She starts plucking them and makes herself a crown of fresh flowers, placing it atop her head. Soon, she will have a golden crown of the Fire Nation.

"Tell me why you want to get married," Azula asks and Ty Lee gulps.

_She doesn't_.

"My father is forcing me to. I ran away and joined the circus, and so he said I had to marry a noble to expand his kingdom. I don't think he expected the Princess of the Fire Nation," Ty Lee says, scratching at her neck. This is awkward; Azula is awkward. Usually Ty Lee thrives in social situations, flirting, the likes. She does not know why conversing with her future wife is so difficult.

"You ran away and joined the circus?" Azula remarks chidingly, laughing faintly. Ty Lee shrugs, easy concealing her anger with a bubbly grin.

"I had siblings. Twin siblings. I was tired of spending my life as part of a matched set," Ty Lee says. "Want to see a trick?"

She contorts herself into some wild position. Azula watches her flexibility with dilated pupils. And from there she rises and does a double back flip. Azula is impressed, but she does not show it.

"Not _bad_, I suppose," Azula says airily and Ty Lee blushes for the thousandth time.

"I spend a lot of time walking on my hands," Ty Lee says, picking at her fingernails. She has already humiliated herself in front of her wife to be.

"Your flexibility intrigues me," Azula says coldly and Ty Lee wonders if she ever says anything in a warm, gentle tone.

"So you're a conqueror of cities," Ty Lee murmurs as they approach a bubbling hot spring. It is surrounded by natural rock and amongst beautiful trees and flowers that smell fresh. The palace is certainly beautiful, even nicer than Ty Lee's palace back home.

"Go in on a mongoose dragon, and take them down with bolts of lightning and clever words. It isn't that hard," Azula says with a noncommittal shrug. She yawns pointedly.

"Do you want to go in there?" Ty Lee asks, running her fingertips through the hot water. Azula nods slowly, her eyes picking apart Ty Lee.

"Premarital sex, huh?" Azula murmurs and Ty Lee blushes bright red. Azula smirks faintly. "I wouldn't mind it."

She walks to Ty Lee and touches her shoulder, a gentle, initiating movement. Ty Lee kisses Azula on the lips and Azula hesitates. Ty Lee cringes, but Azula kisses her back more forcefully. Ty Lee removes Azula's dress and finds her bare beneath it besides red lace panties. Her breasts are as perfect as Ty Lee tried not to imagine. White skin, red lips, pink nipples, perfect body. Ty Lee's hands stray around her as she undoes Ty Lee's clothing.

"Well that's interesting," Azula remarks about the azure lingerie. She runs her fingertips along the fabric and Ty Lee shivers from pleasure.

"My mom said it matched your fire," Ty Lee murmurs, and Azula slowly removes the clothes. Ty Lee feels liberated from the uncomfortable fabric as Azula wraps one leg around her and leans against the slick rock of the hot spring. It is bitterly cold and Ty Lee has goosebumps on her peachy skin as she kisses Azula's neck. She goes down further and presses her lips against her breast, and swirls her tongue around her nipple.

Azula touches her head with gentle yet forceful hands. And with her body propped in a manor she finds odd, Ty Lee is on her knees, tongue against Azula's cunt. A moan, a shiver, more moans and gasps. Azula spirals to climax and as Ty Lee slips away from her, she sinks into the hot water.

Ty Lee gets in, naked body against rock. The water feels excellent, her muscles relaxed by the nearly volcanic water. Azula swims to her with a small smirk, their bodies balancing on each other.

"Do you like me, princess?" Ty Lee asks, feeling foolish. She never feels secure in her relationships, and she _needs _the princess to like her or the arranged marriage will never work out.

"That felt pretty good," Azula says, kissing Ty Lee on the lips. Ty Lee does not know how to respond to that.

Azula slips her fingers to Ty Lee's thigh, swirling around the inside. The hot water and the touch of Azula's sharp fingernails is a pleasure so perfect it is almost agonistic. And Azula brings her to climax with a careless expression on her face, pulling away from her when she is finished and sitting in the water with her eyes half closed.

"You always get what you want, princess, don't you?" Ty Lee asks, drifting on a cloud somewhere far away.

"Yes, I do," Azula says as if it is a matter-of-fact. Ty Lee leans back and tries not to be terrified by the marriage she is entering.

"I'm honored to be your fiancée." Father told her to say that.

"I don't see why you wouldn't be," Azula says with a small shrug. She closes her eyes and Ty Lee is too afraid to speak again.

* * *

><p>"You're marrying?" Mai asks dryly, leaning against Azula's window.<p>

"She's good in bed," Azula replies sharply. _Not that they fucked in a bed._

Mai is made uncomfortable by that. They sleep together upon occasion, although Mai married Zuko for love. Azula finds it ridiculous, but Zuko married a proper noble, whether or not Azula was involved with her. They still fuck, beneath pale moonlight, because Azula is certain that Zuko is not adequate enough to satisfy Mai.

"Of course that's all you care about," Mai sighs, studying Azula further. Azula shrugs.

"I don't need romance; I need the throne." Azula shrugs again, and leans in to Mai for a kiss.

Mai returns, though with a surge of guilt. This would kill Zuko if he knew, but it is what she desires above many things.

"You'll get the throne, Azula. You know you will," Mai says coldly and Azula shrugs. They have been best friends forever and lovers for almost as long.

"And I'll get a new wife," Azula sighs, almost enjoying the mild jealousy in Mai's eyes. It is nice to see her making a facial expression once in a while.

The conversation dies out like an untended fire.

Hands stray to breasts, hips interlock, and they grind gradually to absolute pleasure, and the crime of adultery.

* * *

><p>Ty Lee sits with her sister Ming.<p>

"You're going to be the queen of all the Fire Nation, aren't you?" Ming asks excitedly and Ty Lee does not know what to say. She shrugs faintly. "Princess Azula is Fire Lord Ozai's favorite for the throne. And once you marry her, that makes you the Fire Lady. Ruler of _all_."

"I guess." Ty Lee plays with her hairbrush. She is not pleased right now. She is... tired. Oddly craving for Azula's body after the night in the hot spring, but also feeling broken by the fact that she is forced to be married. The wedding is approaching too soon.

She is to meet Princess Azula for a date, in which she finds herself in an expensive restaurant, dressed up and face to face with the princess. Azula smirks faintly at her, noodles on chopsticks. Food and rice wine are waiting for Ty Lee, at the seat across from the princess. A bard plays a song about a Fire Nation soldier in love, and Ty Lee sits down across from her future bride.

"We're being... supervised," Azula remarks bitterly, glancing at the soldiers. "But I think we can... slip away, if I desire to."

Ty Lee blushes. She does not know whether she wants to slip away with Azula or not. That night felt _good_, but she feels _wrong _about the forced wedding. Azula is her exact opposite. Ty Lee is optimistic, kind and compassionate. Azula is cold, cruel and twisted. The Fire Nation Princess will make Ty Lee more slave than wife and Ty Lee knows it.

"Tell me about yourself, princess, if that pleases you," Ty Lee says, starting to eat her food. It is delicious; this restaurant was a wonderful choice.

"There's not much to be said," Azula shrugs, looking unwilling to divulge further information. Ty Lee was too hopeful. "I grew up, my father became Fire Lord, he trained me for greatness. I conquered cities single-handedly, culminating in Ba Sing Se. And you, you will be Fire Lady someday."

"Zuko is older than you," Ty Lee murmurs and instantly regrets it. If looks could kill, Ty Lee would be dead.

"My father will give the throne to the person who most deserves it," Azula purrs and Ty Lee smiles faintly. "_I _deserve it."

"I believe you, princess," Ty Lee murmurs, leaning across the table to kiss her. It seems... socially acceptable. Azula leans in to it, enjoying the taste of the spice on Ty Lee's strawberry lips for some reason. They pull away, met by the glances of the patrons.

"Why did you kiss me?" Azula asks and Ty Lee blushes. She did not expect that.

"It felt like the right thing to do. We _are _engaged," Ty Lee stammers, stumbling over her words. Azula shrugs with one shoulder.

"So you want to marry me?" Azula breathes, abandoning her food to watch her fiancée squirm.

"I don't _not _want to marry you," Ty Lee says and Azula laughs. It is high, cold and fake, and makes Ty Lee feel ridiculous. "I always dreamt about a big wedding."

"Well, I'm sure you'll get that," Azula says casually, her eyes studying Ty Lee closely. They have this chilling way of seeming to comprehend more than Ty Lee would like to be displaying. Azula can tell a person's entire history in their eyes, but she fails to be able to do this with Ty Lee. Her protuberant, sparkling eyes hide secrets, and Azula _does not _like secrets.

As dessert is served, Azula slips off her shoe. She wiggles her bare toes, enjoying the sensation of the sweltering Fire Nation summer against it. She touches her toes to the inside of Ty Lee's ankle. Her eyes bulge wide, startled. Azula runs her foot up and down Ty Lee's smooth, inviting skin. The acrobat swallows and tries to ignore the rather throbbing arousal, as Azula smirks smugly at her actions.

Her foot slides up further, to the inside of Ty Lee's skirt. Now she clenches her muscles, wet. Someone could drown in her panties. But Azula smiles faintly and pulls away her foot the second she can see the undeniable arousal in Ty Lee's expression. It relieves the feelings of inadequacy brought on by not being able to properly read Ty Lee.

"You know I have someone," Azula says and Ty Lee's eyes bulge. She looks startled; Azula assumed she would have a boyfriend from the way she flirts with the waiter. "But she's married to my brother."

"I'm... sorry..." Ty Lee does not know what else to say. But Azula shrugs and smiles faintly.

"It isn't as if I care," she says, pushing around her food on her plate. "We were bound to break up anyway. Now you, you are interesting. I think we can have an _intriguing _relationship."

_A sexual relationship_.

After dinner, they are escorted back to the palace. Fire Lord Ozai is busy attending to important meetings, but after Sozin's Comet they _won the war_; it isn't as if this bullshit matters. But Azula will be polite, because she desires nothing more than to be Fire Lord.

"Spend the night," Azula says, breathing into Ty Lee's brunette hair. The hot breath tickles Ty Lee's neck and makes her shoulders shoot up. Azula smirks at the discomfort of her guest.

"I would love to, princess," Ty Lee says, smiling faintly. Azula takes her hand, her grip loose enough to make it seem as if she does not care, but tight enough to assert dominance. They wander into Azula's bedroom and Ty Lee slips onto the huge red bed. Her head flops against a long black pillow as Azula examines her prey.

Azula slips her fingertips to her shirt and starts stripping. The motions are slow, perfectly timed and Ty Lee wonders where the perfect, idolized princess learned to do that. Her body is gradually exposed, masked by pretty lace panties and a taut bra that her cleavage presses tightly against. She does not make eye contact, her eyes drifting here and there as she bares herself and crawls onto the bed.

She pins Ty Lee down and kisses her neck. Slips her fingers around and touches the inside of her thigh. Ty Lee moans without meaning to. Azula kisses her breast, and then offers a thousand more burning kisses across Ty Lee's smooth skin. Her body responds uncontrollably and it frightens her.

Azula pins down Ty Lee's hands and kisses her before they roll over. Ty Lee has to think quickly as she is atop of Azula, but her bare back faces the window, the pale moonlight making patterns on her skin, as she swirls her tongue along Azula's clavicle. She slips her fingers into the princess, hoping she will not get burned alive for it, but Azula seems to like it.

Her entire body moves with Ty Lee's motions, surprisingly. She is slender and looks frail from afar, but her prowess as a firebender and conqueror of kingdoms would lead Ty Lee to believe that she would be immovable as an earthbender. Azula orgasms and feels the rush as she pulls Ty Lee's head down to her, knotting her fingers in her hair, and presses their lips together.

There is no reciprocation but Ty Lee does not care as their tongues intertwine, and they sit, Azula naked on her lap, kissing and touching feverishly in the night. And, finally, they break apart.

"You should be gone by morning," Azula says airily, getting up and slipping into a red and gold kimono robe. Ty Lee does not know what to say. She was just floating on passionate sex and now Azula is pretending it didn't happen. "We aren't really supposed to be doing this before we get married and my father's opinion of me dictates if I get my one true love. _The throne of the Fire Nation_."

"I'll leave now, princess," Ty Lee says, bowing as she pulls on her clothes. She is a mess, she notices as she glances in the mirror. "It was nice seeing you."

"The feeling is mutual," Azula purrs lightly, and she shuts the door behind Ty Lee, returning to her bed.

She thinks about Mai for a moment. The sex with Ty Lee does not feel the same. It is passionate and _hot _and Azula rides on the rush of power and pleasure, but it is not the same as sex that comes with love. Does Azula love Mai? She does not know and it frustrates her.

How can she sort out her feelings for her brother's wife before she delves into the warm waters of marriage? _Forced _marriage.

She falls asleep with not an image of Ty Lee in her mind, but an image of Mai.

* * *

><p>"Do you learn to love?" Ty Lee asks her mother. Her mother nods slowly. "Really, mother? Did you learn to love father? Will I learn to love Azula?"<p>

Her mother stops writing her letter and sighs. She rubs her temples.

"It's hard at first. You'll cry the first few nights, but it will get easier." She offers the words and returns to her work.

"But will I love her?" Ty Lee demands, wondering desperately. Her sexual feelings for Azula are muddled enough with the two trysts, and her emotional feelings are even more confused. In her core, she does not want to marry her. But she _has _to.

"Probably not," mother sighs and Ty Lee purses her lips.

So much for a happily ever after.

Maybe if she spends some time with Azula, gets to know her.

Maybe then they have the slim chance of falling in love.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

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><p>It isn't like the romance novels Ty Lee reads. They are, in fact, the only things she reads. And she figured that they would give her a fairly good idea of what being engaged is like.<p>

But they are, in truth, all lies. Ty Lee is being married in a royal wedding in six months; she is going to be a princess. This kind of thing is supposed to feel exciting, thrilling and enchanting. But she just feels strangely hollow, covering up the sadness of her forced future with smiles and tea with wedding planners.

"You're in love with someone else, aren't you?" Ty Lee says, after squinting at Azula for some time. She has been bending in the courtyard, and Ty Lee has been watching with a cup of white tea. Heavily sugared, of course, which only the wealthiest can afford.

"That doesn't concern you," Azula replies during a sweeping motion of blue fire. It surges out of her control momentarily as she speaks, and she curses under her breath and starts over from five forms ago. These _tedious _interruptions are most unpleasant. "Why are you here?"

"We're supposed to be getting to know each other," Ty Lee chirps, attempting to be polite and compassionate. But the princess does not respond well to it; in fact, she does not respond at all for several minutes, as Ty Lee squirms anxiously and wonders if she should start walking on her hands to divert her attention away.

"This engagement is going to be interesting," Azula says, sliding to a stop with a bolt of lightning that cleaves her shoddily put together target in half. The fire burns and fizzles out in the damp grass. "It will be mostly show, mostly awkward social events and it won't be pleasant. So stop trying to make it pleasant."

_Well you don't have any problem sleeping with me_, Ty Lee would reply if she were talking to anyone but the crown princess of an empire that spans an entire planet. She thought _she _was important with her father reigning over a chunk of land awarded by the Fire Lord. But she is an insect and Princess Azula is a god. And Azula is aware of it.

Azula walks to her, her skin shining with sweat from both the heat of her flames and the motions that almost looked impossible to a celebrated contortionist. She sits down beside Ty Lee, quite uncomfortably close. Ty Lee does not know if she is going to kiss her or electrocute her, and it is unnerving as the princess's face is unreadable.

"Tell me about the Colony Kingdoms," Azula says, walking her fingers up Ty Lee's leg. This is too confusing for the admittedly unintelligent princess-to-be. "Of course I learned about them in school... they _were _my father's design after all. But I've never left the Fire Nation. I've never left the Caldera."

She sounds genuinely... _interested_. To Azula, it is as much of a facade as anything in her family. But she is going to be good at this, because she is good at everything she does. They clearly are _physically _compatible, after all. It can't hurt.

"They're cold," is all Ty Lee says. Azula makes a strange face. "And kind of depressing. I lived in _literally _the most _grey _disgusting one ever. Just endless mines and dried up mining towns and... I didn't like it. It's nicer here."

"Mai is from Omashu," Azula replies, examining her sharp fingernails. Ty Lee is rather intimidated by them; she never did catch on to the rich people manicure. It makes her line of work nearly impossible.

"Much nicer than mine," Ty Lee remarks and Azula shrugs.

"She hated it. But she hates everything, so I suppose it isn't a decent indicator," Azula says, twisting one of her bangs around her finger. Ty Lee is captivated with the motion. The way she breathes. The royals are _different _to a girl with six siblings who lived in a tent in the dirt for four years. All of this is _alien _and to be honest, she cannot bear thinking of the moment her mother and father leave, and she is left alone in the Caldera, with only the princess.

"Did she want to marry Zuko?" Ty Lee asks rigidly as Azula is stroking her shoulder.

"No. He didn't choose her either, like my father let me. I had to manipulate him more than I've ever done before to get to choose." Azula pauses at those words, gauging Ty Lee's reaction. Princess Azula is still baffled by her father's response to her declaration that she would be wed to a woman or she would leave his choices as Fire Lord Zuko and discovering immortality. "Mai's father cajoled, threatened and coerced himself into getting his daughter into the royal family. If I would call anyone a friend, it would be her," Azula says, kissing Ty Lee's neck. Ty Lee's shoulders shoot up and she takes a deep breath.

"Sorry," she murmurs. This is strange and Ty Lee just wants to run back to her mother's hotel and cry. She _wants _this but _doesn't _and she is so confused.

"They were arranged to be married as kids. He's in love with her... she feels the same," Azula says, choosing her words carefully. If her family has taught her anything it is _not to trust the people closest to her_. Trust is for fools.

"So it can work out," Ty Lee murmurs, and Azula stops whatever it is she is doing.

"I'm not getting my hopes up," Azula whispers into Ty Lee's hair. Her skin tingles all over her body as she remembers the past two trysts and feels incredible guilt and desire. The Capitol is confusing, her arranged marriage is confusing, and this is all happening very fast.

Azula slides down Ty Lee's short sleeves with ease, gradually exposing peachy skin. She is _tan _for being a noble, and it is intriguing to Azula momentarily. She never examined her fiancée in sunlight. Ty Lee swallows, confused by the motions as Azula slips onto her lap. It is not the delicate motions Ty Lee is used to in her previous sexual encounters ─ of which there were few ─ but dominating and entrancing at the same time.

Ty Lee slips her hands to Azula's hips, watching the princess remove her shirt with relative ease. She fumbles less than Ty Lee; or perhaps Ty Lee is just self conscious. Ty Lee's lips touch Azula's breast as the princess moves her body in ways that the contortionist has inflicted upon others but not felt upon herself. Azula has an exhilarated glow in her golden eyes as she touches the back of Ty Lee's neck, grinding against her towards her own orgasm.

She hesitates, halfway through a gasp. Ideas flicker through her mind while Ty Lee can only think of the body against her, hot skin, feverish, smooth. The utter terror and complete and engulfing arousal unified in the naked body of the princess. Pale skin, crimson lips, red nipples, harsh curves, taut body, black hair that must take hours to complete. She is picturesque and perfect, yet Ty Lee feels tears overcoming her as she experiences the arousal.

Azula dips down, onto her knees. She watches Ty Lee squirm with the fear of it and it is more pleasurable than the raw sexual acts. Messing with her emotions entices Azula; such things are not possible with Mai. She is rather devoid of emotion or embarrassment.

"I have to go," Ty Lee stammers as Azula's lips are on her navel. The princess sits up, touching her hands to her breasts and covering them.

"Where?" Azula raises an eyebrow. She thrives on the anxiety Ty Lee radiates, the way she shakes and trembles in the presence of the princess. Then again, while titillating, it will not make Azula's plans any easier to have a terrified bride.

"Can I go?" Ty Lee rephrases, not giving a clear answer. Azula hesitates and then nods, standing up and walking away swiftly with the cavalier gait of the overconfident.

Ty Lee returns to her family's lodgings and finds her father arguing with her mother.

And then she bursts into tears.

"Why are you crying, girl?" father demands and Ty Lee just cries harder.

Her mother always told her to _smile_. Or her aura will fade. Well this marriage will _drain _the life from her aura until she is a hollow cusp. She runs to her bedroom as her mother opens her mouth to say something, and locks herself inside. This house is too quiet. Home was loud, the circus was loud, and this perfectly decorated hotel in the Capitol of the Fire Nation is eerily silent. Except for her sobs.

"I don't want to do this," Ty Lee says sharply as her mother walks in. Her mother sighs and closes the door.

"Love is for poor people," her mother replies bluntly and Ty Lee is confused. "Marriages are arranged. They're for business decisions, or military promotions or _political gains_. I'm sure there's some cute servant boy you can fuck while she isn't around."

And Ty Lee starts crying again.

"At least you won't wind up with six children," mother offers, attempting a joke and only making things worse.

"But I _want _children," Ty Lee wails, clawing at her bed futilely. She wishes to wrap the blankets around herself and fade away into the walls. "I don't want to be part of their family; I want to be part of our family."

"You'll love the attention," mother says and Ty Lee scoffs. "You'll be famous. Possibly Fire Lady. When you were a little girl, you always wanted to be a princess."

Ty Lee says no more. She lies down and closes her eyes and tries to put a positive spin on this. There has to be something _good _other than royal titles and father's precious kingdom. There always is. Every cloud has a silver lining and that is Ty Lee's philosophy for everything.

She will _not _let this marriage make her into some kind of weeping wreck.

Meanwhile, at the palace, Mai is reading a book and lying on her back. She feels _bored _as usual, and then someone enters.

"What are you reading?" Azula asks in her faux sweet voice. The tone she uses with people who have power over her; the tone she uses with people she has power over is altogether different.

"A book," Mai replies flatly and Azula grits her teeth.

"Is it good?" Azula continues, still in a sickeningly sugary falsetto.

"If you want to get laid just _say _you want to get laid," Mai says, closing the book pointedly. Azula's eyes flicker wide momentarily, and then her expression returns to a haughty pout. "Don't pretend to be interested in me or my _book_. Just say, _I want to do adulterous things with you, Mai_."

Azula crosses her arms. "You have no right to speak to me that way."

"Somebody has to, princess. That's what friends are for. And I don't think anybody else wants to be friends with us."

"My bedroom, five minutes." And Azula is gone. A flicker of an amused smile crosses Mai's face before she slowly stands up and waits for the princess to round the corner. She glances around, and then follows her.

Azula is waiting as Mai walks in. She used to enjoy the _danger _of the affair, but now it seems almost mundane. Like what _normal _people do, not the twisted girls, one who slits throats and rubs clits and the other who burns all that dissatisfies her to a crisp. They are not good people, and they know it.

Mai shuts the door with a click, taking Azula by the waist. They kiss, lips touching. Mai's are always surprisingly warm, though she radiates an ice that is almost as bitter as Azula's glacial heat. Arousal overcomes them both as Azula is backed against a wall, decides she dislikes the position, and she pushes Mai onto the bed. Oddly carefully. Oddly tenderly.

She is on top of her, Mai lying there with no expression. It can be... frustrating. But the overachieving Azula likes a challenge.

"I'm going to ask you a question," Azula says, swirling her fingertips around every inch of exposed skin. Mai's lips twitch slightly at the sharp nails against the surface of sensitive skin, but she shows little else. "Has my brother ever made you orgasm?"

"I think you have an unhealthy interest in his sex life," Mai sighs before laughing as Azula shoves her. "It doesn't matter. Your rivalry is _boring_."

"Oh, you want excitement? I'm sure my brother is very _exciting_," Azula says, her hands no longer initiating sex and Mai pinned in a rather uncomfortable situation. But she keeps her emotions in check, as father taught her, as she was forced to do when he sold her away at eight years old for political gains with Ozai.

"I like you both. There's not a problem with that." Mai sits up, the adjustment smooth and serpentine. Her lips touch Azula's to silence her. "Your jealousy is getting grating."

"I'm not _jealous_. I'm perfect. I have the _perfect _life and I _do _not, get jealous." The room is suddenly blue as the candles Azula lit surge. She shoves Mai down, scratching her. And _so this will go._

"I know you do," Mai says, because it is easier than arguing. She may be the only one to speak up to Azula, but there are certain boundaries she doesn't cross. Certain times that agreeing with her is easier than dissenting.

Azula kisses her again, forcefully this time, claiming.

_Azula and Mai lie in bed, at the age of fourteen. In one week, Mai will be marrying. The tension between the two of them is palpable, as Azula has lashed out virulently for days now, and Mai has sighed and taken it, because she understands that Azula will always be possessive and jealous._

_ "I have no idea how to consummate my marriage," Mai states softly, wrapping the blankets tighter around herself as if it will protect her from Azula's response. "Do you know?"_

_ Azula shrugs. "Most people know."_

_ "Do you know if Zuko's...?" Mai asks hesitantly and Azula senses emotion in her tone. She supposes the socially appropriate thing to do is to help her friend._

_ "My father initiated his sexuality with a slave years ago. I think it traumatized him nearly as much as being responsible for mother's death. He probably will be more awkward than you," Azula says, adding a pointed yawn. Mai frowns briefly, but it is quickly gone from her lips._

_ "I could show you," Azula says, although she will not reveal her sources. She slips on top of Mai, and Mai is startled at first, but she does not show it. "You have to at least _try _to be expressive."_

_ "What makes you the expert on this, princess? Unless you count that au pair your father had executed. And she was..." Mai is silenced from one look. She knows there are lines she should not cross._

_ "Just look at him, and hold his hips like that, and..." Azula starts but she is cut off by Mai's lips against hers._

_ Instead of practicing for Zuko, they discover each other._

Three years later, Azula lies with Mai in bed, not wrapped around each other. They don't _do _things like couples do, like Zuko holds Mai in one arm as they fall asleep. Mai is torn about her feelings, so she tries not to have any. Azula has one true love and that is the throne of the Fire Nation. It works, somehow.

"So has he made you orgasm?" Azula murmurs airily, half asleep.

Mai leans in close to her, uncharacteristic of how detached they become after union.

"No," she whispers, and no more is said until Mai slinks back to her quarters, and tries not to make eye contact with her husband.

Three days later, Azula has yet to see Ty Lee, but her father has been asking a multitude of prying questions about what he calls a _gift_.

"Zuko, help me understand father," Azula says, lying upside down. Her legs are on the back of the antique sofa and her hair, down from the topknot, grazes the cold stone floor.

Zuko is disinterestedly preparing a pointless speech. Father told them to go play like regular children. Azula is writing her name over and over in smoke and fire in the air, Zuko occasionally hoping she does not burn the library down, and he is doing _work_. _Go play like regular children_, as if. They're old enough to be married; they're too old to play.

They used to play together before Ozai became Fire Lord. Before mother did such treasonous things and disappeared. There was a before, and Zuko has chalked up his forced bonding with Azula to be his father trying to salvage what remains of his family, as he watches his children form their own families. Azula, on the other hand, knows her father far better than that. He does not care remotely about family. But he cares about _heirs_, and Azula's _gift _has been bothering her, because, so far, there does not seem to be a catch.

"When father gives gifts they have more strings attached than a marionette show," Azula continues as Zuko attempts to ignore her. "I don't like this."

"Maybe father wants you to be happy. Maybe father regrets." And Azula tenses.

"I think it's kind of cute that you expect the best in people. Mother instilled that in you." Silence. "Mother is gone. You should learn the rules of the family before you get a second mutilation."

And she disappears. Zuko grits his teeth.

But he knows that Ozai must have an angle. He _always _does.

Azula sees her fiancée alone.

"I think he knows we're fucking," Azula says carelessly as she reclines on the sofa. They are doing absolutely nothing, as father often instructs her to do with Zuko.

"My-my mother _suggested _that I sleep with you. I-will that call off the wedding?" Ty Lee stammers, her protuberant eyes wide. Azula scoffs.

"Of course not. But I think my father would rather not _know_." Azula shrugs to reinforce her point. "You've obviously had sexual experience before me so don't play the virgin. Although you do pull off the little innocent look."

_You don't have to be so vicious_, Ty Lee wants to say, but instead she responds, "Yeah. I'm a teenage runaway. I've had sex before."

"And with girls, it seems," Azula says, looking _amused _by this. Ty Lee hesitates, trying to keep a positive attitude. Maybe Azula just needs to be _warmed _up to.

"Yes. But mostly boys. They're... easier," Ty Lee says, struggling to find the words. No one has directly interrogated her about her sexuality before. "Can I ask why you wanted a wife? If you're going to be Fire Lord, wouldn't you just need an heir?"

Azula gives Ty Lee a scrutinizing look that makes her shrink slightly.

"I told my father that I would have a wife, or he could figure out how to live forever," Azula says, voicing it with such a threat in her tone that Ty Lee is baffled. "I like to get what I want. I have no desire to sleep with a man and I won't."

"You seem so selfless in your speeches."

"And you aren't selfish? Not at all? I'm sure you were spoiled as a child, yet so neglected that you cavort around begging people to look at you. I can see it in your eyes," Azula remarks casually and Ty Lee's heart leaps into her throat. It is an uncanny observation for someone who has done little talking and much fucking with Ty Lee. "You're constantly searching that first rush of mommy and daddy giving you the attention you felt you _so _deserved."

"And were you neglected?" Ty Lee asks and Azula shrugs.

"That isn't important," she replies smoothly and Ty Lee has little else to say. She is not intelligent enough to navigate this. She has always been able to coast by in life with a smile and a bat of her eyelashes, but that does not seem to be the answer in her newfound relationship with the royal family.

"So tonight is a dinner, right?" Ty Lee attempts to change the course of conversation by stating the obvious. Azula shrugs softly.

"Yes. An engagement party."

An hour later, Ty Lee and Azula are readying themselves. Azula's hair was not done by herself, but by three servants, which Ty Lee and her hastily and often knotted braid are surprised by. She was wealthy; basically royalty in the former Earth Kingdom, now the Colony Kingdoms after Sozin's Comet's second appearance. But Azula's life of lavishness is surprising.

"Can I wear this, princess?" Ty Lee asks, currently submerged in Azula's closet. Azula leans over from the vanity, with flaming eyeliner pinched between two fingers.

"I don't care. Wear what you like," Azula replies eventually before returning to the mirror.

Ty Lee takes a deep breath. She pulls on the red dress, finds it nearly see-through, and walks to Azula, She stands behind her, examining herself and her fiancée in the mirror. They both look beautiful tonight, and their appearance will, of course, be well received.

Slowly, Ty Lee kisses Azula's neck. It still feels a little sick, but she does it anyway. Azula's shoulders don't shoot up in fright like Ty Lee's tend to; the princess leans into it. It feels nice. Ty Lee is hesitant, but she knows that this must be done, and she is relatively terrified of it.

"Why are you so scared?" Azula asks as Ty Lee kisses her cheek. It was timid and cold. "It wouldn't be in my interest to harm you."

Ty Lee does not know what to say. "I'm not scared."

"I'm pretty good at telling when people are lying." Azula turns around in her chair, legs wrapped around the back. It presses against her abdomen as she faces her fiancée. "And you're not a very good liar. You'll have to get better at that once you live here."

"Maybe you can teach me," Ty Lee whispers, feeling naked in the gaze of Princess Azula. Azula laughs, high, cold, fake. Makes people feel foolish, as if her time has been wasted, or she is merely patronizing those beneath her. "Maybe you can teach me a lot of things."

If it weren't for her chirping, sickeningly sweet tone, it would be seductive. Azula stands up, freeing herself of the chair, and sits down on the bed. Ty Lee has noticed that no matter where she is sitting, it looks as if she is on a throne. Born to lead the Fire Nation, certainly. And knows she is far above her colony trash bride-to-be.

"Stand on one foot," Azula says abruptly and Ty Lee is baffled. She looks at Azula with her lips slightly ajar. "Go on, stand on one foot."

"I don't know what you mean, Princess Azula," Ty Lee stammers, tilting her head to the side.

"I _mean _stand on one foot," Azula sighs haughtily, turning one palm up. If it weren't for glittering golden eyes, Ty Lee would think she was bored.

Ty Lee stands on one foot. It is easy for her, of course.

"Okay, stand on one hand," Azula continues and Ty Lee swallows. Perhaps teenage girls should not be given so much power. But she flips over fluidly and balances on one hand. Azula smirks and Ty Lee falls.

"I don't usually trip like that." Ty Lee's face is as red as the borrowed dress she wears. Azula's lips curl further, almost to the point of paining her.

"Now walk to me," Azula says and Ty Lee continues, baffled by this game. "Kiss me."

Ty Lee complies. She slips onto Azula's lap, unsure if the princess will like it. It makes her heart flutter in ways that doing contortionist acts suspended fifty feet above the ground did not. The physicality of it is pleasurable, the mental and emotional implications are painful. Azula is lost in it, testing her limits, more preoccupied with trying to figure out father's motivations than the confused desires of her fiancée.

They meet eyes briefly and Azula doesn't look away. The gaze is ended with their lips pressing together as they fall back onto the bed. The arousal of stripping off Azula's only recently shimmied-into clothes is throbbing, hot and damp. And the acrobat uses her flexibility to her advantage, seizing control for the first time, and making Azula's toes curl.

Azula pushes her down, holding her in place. Sweat drips from her hair, the perfect up-do now ruined. She lets her hands explore the still novel body, and grabs her sash from her dress, now discarded and hanging off of the side of the plush ruby bed.

Ty Lee is momentarily concerned as Azula slips it around her wrists, but she does not move. She only breathes, Azula noticing the heave of her chest more than she would like to. Bound loosely, Ty Lee is still as Azula strips off her clothes, both of them now entirely bare and exposed.

Her lips touch Ty Lee's navel. She swirls her tongue around, slides it down. And then pulls away. Ty Lee is blushing, hot, wet and confused as Azula starts to reconstruct her perfect outfit. Ty Lee is tied up and painfully aroused, as well as more confused than she was when Azula made her stand on one foot.

"We have a dinner to attend, _darling_."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

* * *

><p>"Walking is for peasants," is all Ty Lee's fiancée says while she stares at the palanquin anxiously. "Now get in."<p>

_Don't tell me what to do_, is what Ty Lee is thinking, but her mouth forms the words, "Of course, princess."

And so Ty Lee obeys, as she is apt to.

The engagement party is not held at the palace, but at a building with elaborate architecture Ty Lee never saw in the colonies. Everything there was steel, an affront to the earthbenders and a stark contrast against nature. But the Fire Nation consists of buildings coated with gold and red, beautiful stone sculptures and strong columns. The buildings, even the downtrodden apartments they passed on their way, are beautiful.

Azula is beautiful too. So Ty Lee does not know why she is feeling such lament for what should be a gift. She is _fortunate _to be ornately decorated with expensive things, walking into a ballroom dedicated to her, after sleeping with an intoxicating princess. But she feels knots in her stomach and has the sensation that this is _wrong_. And there is no one to ask about it.

"This is going to be incredibly awkward," Azula whispers into Ty Lee's ear, her hot breath tickling the neck of her companion. Ty Lee swallows and nods feebly, taking Azula's hand as she is supposed to and entering the room.

"The populace is very excited about this wedding. It is a welcome show of good faith amongst the tension between the Colony Kingdom and the Empire," a well dressed announcer declares as Azula and Ty Lee are met by well-wishers. "It seems to be a great achievement."

"A startling achievement," Admiral Hoang murmurs in Azula's ear. She sits beside him, dragging Ty Lee forcefully behind her. "This wedding has peculiarly good timing."

"What do you know, admiral?" Azula whispers back frantically and he shrugs, smiling smugly.

"Enjoy your engagement party princess. I think your nameplate is somewhere else," he winks at her, smirking faintly. Azula grits her teeth and slips to her feet.

"Who is he?" Ty Lee asks softly, squeezing Azula's hand like a scared toddler.

"An informant of mine," Azula says, sitting beside her father. She is at his left, and Zuko at his right, although their positions in his eyes are quite different. Ty Lee watches her fiancée exchange a romantic glance with her brother's wife and feels angry momentarily, but recalls that she cannot be. She should simply be grateful.

"You have an infor─"

"Not here, darling," Azula replies softly, stroking Ty Lee's wrist. She glances at her father pointedly and Ty Lee understands. The motion silences her as she looks at the red wine in her glass. It reminds her of blood.

She feels anxiety as she looks around for her parents and does not find them. They should be here, shouldn't they? But the room is entirely occupied by nobles of the Fire Nation, purebred in their nation. Ty Lee leans closer to Azula. She trusts her with her body and trusts her, oddly, to protect her from whatever madness this is.

Fire Lord Ozai opens the occasion with, "I am so glad that my daughter can be a part of relieving the tensions between the colonies and the Fire Nation. After the comet and the division of the land between kings my father trusted, as I took rule, the kingdoms were... less than amicable with their home nation. But the wedding of the future Fire Lord and the child of a man whose father rose against me..."

Azula whispers, "No one told me your grandfather rebelled against my father."

"I figured you knew," Ty Lee whispers back, under her breath, as Fire Lord Ozai drones on with pleasantries and conversation more civil than the man he is.

Azula has an expression on that Ty Lee does not want to see. It is wicked, yet beautiful, and she studies her father with a penetrating gaze.

Ty Lee eats the food that tastes wonderful, because she is sure the chefs would be executed if it was not. Azula holds up conversation cleverly with the people around her, and Ty Lee looks like an animal because she just tries to keep her mouth full so she does not have to say anything. She can already tell that a runaway noble who was part of a travelling circus has no place at this event.

After the dinner, they spin around a thousand stars in the ballroom. Azula dances like she bends; perfectly light on her feet. Ty Lee spins like an acrobat and they draw attention that brings a blush to Ty Lee's cheeks and a smile to her lips. Azula is amused by it; she likes that Ty Lee is happy, whether that matters or not.

Azula kisses her gently and the crowd loves it. Her eyes flicker to her father and he is locked in a conversation that has his brow knit, over in the shadows, not basking in the guests. Something is happening, a sensation Azula has felt since her betrothal was announced. She nearly slips and Ty Lee catches her, pulling their bodies together.

Now she should focus on her rather beautiful bride, and not her father's plans. They cannot hurt her; he is too weak for his daughter for her to truly need to worry. But it unnerves her still.

Ty Lee and Azula slide away from being the center attention as Zuko and Mai are drawing a crowd, much to Zuko and Mai's chagrin. Azula and Ty Lee linger darkly in the shadows, Ty Lee sipping her fourth glass of rice wine and Azula trying to make small talk and failing. She never was very good at it.

"You look beautiful tonight," Ty Lee says as if it matters. Azula murmurs a rehearsed thank you. "Do you want to get away from this?"

"Maybe," Azula says, shrugging cavalierly and coldly. Ty Lee's stomach squirms; Azula is gorgeous, her body irresistible, but her careless and violent aura is not that compatible with the bubbly pink.

Azula takes her hand and guides her through the halls of the ballroom, walking past couples and friends who are trying to escape the hot and sweaty room. Ty Lee tries to figure out what Azula is thinking as she locks them in a closet, leaning against the wall. She certainly hopes she does not die in here, and hopes twice as much that they start fucking. Oh she is so screwed up in the head...

It is dark and Ty Lee can feel Azula's breath on her skin. It feels good, yet complicated and confusing, as well as blurred by alcohol. Azula's lips are against hers as they tear into each other, standing. Azula is pinned against the wall, Ty Lee's fingers in her, shaking with motions, failing to suppress moans.

Their hands explore bodies in the darkness, Ty Lee giggling impulsively as Azula's kiss misses and hits her nose. She expects the princess to be angry, but she just laughs. The walls are close around them, their bodies close, and for the first time, Ty Lee is feeling excited about her wedding.

Even if Azula is... twisted and a bit too cruel, the sex is inspired and vibrant. It burns with the heat of a thousand suns, and even if their hearts don't burn for each other, their bodies ache for each other. That is at least half of a happy marriage down.

They find their clothes and slip out of the closet, unnoticed. Azula holds Ty Lee's hand as they slip into a bathroom and try to put themselves together.

"For someone so calculated, you're pretty spontaneous," Ty Lee says and Azula shrugs. She takes compliments as if she expects them and Ty Lee dislikes it, but, then again, she spends half her time fishing for them, better to have that kind of confidence than Ty Lee's insecurity.

Azula turns to Ty Lee quite abruptly and Ty Lee flinches. Motions like that from Princess Azula are general met with terror.

"You were gifted to me," Azula says slowly, leaning in close. "And a gift you are."

Ty Lee thinks it is a compliment, though the words are mildly threatening. She takes a deep breath, murmurs, "Thank you, princess," and vows to herself to stop analyzing Azula so closely.

After their abrupt and strange tryst, Azula stands at the party in her glimmering golden jewelry and tight fitted ruby gown, engaging in conversations of politics that entertain her more than her vapid bride. Mai is talking to Ty Lee and Azula supposes it is for the best; Mai is not jealous but Ty Lee clearly is.

Father's advisors break from him, all with grave expressions. Azula calmly continues to converse as she tries to catch the attention of Admiral Hoang. He looks at her and then is gone, which leaves Azula to believe her father has said something to make him silent.

She dislikes this very much.

When she looks up, she sees Mai gone from Ty Lee's side, and a boy there instead. Azula walks away from her conversation with over-enthusiastic balding nobles and walks over to the flirtatious scene.

"What are you doing?" Azula demands of the young man and his eyebrows shoot up.

"Just t-talking," he stammers in horror as Ty Lee grimaces with an open mouth.

"Just _talking_. You're flirting with my fiancée," Azula snarls. "I am a jealous, jealous princess. I hope you know that."

"I meant no disrespect," he says, his eyes on Azula's hands. Ty Lee grabs her wrist and holds it, trying to stop her from executing the cute, muscular boy with a bolt of lightning.

"Azula, he doesn't mean anything," Ty Lee says softly, squeezing Princess Azula's hand. She gives Ty Lee a glance that makes her think that it will all work out. Perhaps her princess can be kind. "Please don't hurt him."

"I won't, since you ask," Azula says regally, charmingly. Ty Lee is too afraid to smile. "Well, _I _won't."

And Ty Lee's protuberant eyes flash as two guards spring from the shadows and have him seized.

Ty Lee closes her eyes and hears the sound of flesh being torn. She buries her face in Azula's shoulder as the party is silent save for the continuing music. She feels something hot and wet on her feet, dripping from her high heeled sandals.

It doesn't take much thinking to know that it is blood.

* * *

><p>Ozai is trying to focus on his duties as Fire Lord when Azula walks into his office uninvited. She does not speak as he is lost in contemplation. He moves tonight to seize what is his, and Azula serves as the perfect ploy, the perfect distraction. She seems to suspect; he wonders why she is here.<p>

"What is it you gain from this?" Azula inquires abruptly, crossing her arms. Ozai is startled by the interruption; usually Azula keeps her mouth shut unless she's lying. "Being so kind and amicable about this marriage. I can't figure out what you get from this."

"I don't understand why that matters so much to you, little princess," Ozai says, closing his book of agricultural reports and standing up. He is much taller than his daughter, much stronger, but her expression gives him a slight anxiety. Azula will go to lengths greater than he will to get what she wants, and that is a significant statement.

"It concerns me, father," Azula replies quietly. "I wouldn't be so... honest with you. But I don't like walking blind into a trap."

"There's no _trap_, Azula." And now Ozai looks agitated. Azula takes two subconscious steps backwards. "You said you wanted to marry another woman and I allowed it."

"You're bribing me."

"To do what?" Ozai replies and Azula swallows. She has no answer.

"Then what is it?" Azula walks closer to him, against her desire for survival.

"You have _always _gotten what you want, little princess. You've become paranoid since Zuko returned," Ozai says, frowning slightly. Azula examines him, looking for a tell and not finding one. "I'm not brushing you aside as my heir. I'm giving you a gift, as I've already said."

"I'm grateful, father, but─"

"Stop," Ozai says quietly, but with such force that his daughter is silenced. "You're paranoid and distrustful. I admit I must have distilled those qualities in you, but perhaps I just prefer you fucking your own wife over fucking your brother's wife."

Azula opens her mouth to protest his words, but closes it subsequently. _She _has nothing to gain for continuing to argue with her father. Maybe she is paranoid. Her past gives her reason to be.

"I understand, father," Azula says, a seething loathing in her tone that Ozai decides to ignore.

She walks away before more can happen due to her bluntness.

It was foolish to ask. She will have to find out some other way.

Azula finds herself with Mai. They halfway have sex and then give up in between, lying down beside each other in the dim lamplight.

"You look extremely preoccupied," Mai remarks casually, not asking for further information. But she knows that Azula will give it to her. Azula becomes surprisingly easy to play with enough time at her side.

"Admiral Hoang said something, and my father's support of this wedding... it all feels incredibly suspicious to me," Azula murmurs, her fingers straying towards Mai's inner thigh. Mai does not move; she does not jump like Ty Lee and Azula almost dislikes it. "He's getting something out of this gigantic show..."

"Of course he is," Mai says, sitting up and kissing Azula as she finishes her sentence. Azula does not respond to the lips against hers, frozen like a statue. "Nothing in your family happens without an ulterior motive or _ten _ulterior motives."

Azula hesitates and Mai smirks; she has no fear of Princess Azula's famous wrath. Finally, the princess laughs, and slips off her shirt.

Hours later, Azula wakes to a commotion. Her limbs are tangled with Mai's as she sits up slowly, taking a deep breath. She pushes herself out of bed and Mai's eyes flutter open. Escalated voices echo, one of which is the gravelly growl of her father. Princess Azula walks slowly down the hall, not bothering to full dress herself, as she hears the sheathing of swords.

"Are you hearing this?" Zuko. Azula shoves him aside and walks with him, both of their hands illuminating, two in ruby and two in sapphire.

They arrive near the throne room, stopping by the ajar door. Azula holds up one hand to keep Zuko from running inside as they hear a strangled shout. She peers around the corner, golden eyes examining the scene. And she dashes in at what she sees.

"Azula, stay out of this," father says, walking down from the throne. Shadows and light dance around the room as the flames grow and Azula sees corpses littering the floor, two men held by burly guards.

"What's happening?" Azula murmurs, livid that she is not included. As she is dressed and primped for her precious wedding, she walks into the palace to see one of her father's closest advisors missing his head.

"I'm taking care of traitors," father replies smoothly, gesturing to the door. Azula watches a man burst into tears before he is lit ablaze by Fire Lord Ozai's hand. She does not look away.

_Father stands with Azula. She is twelve and he has his arm around her, and Zuko is on the other side of the room. A man is dragged towards the open, well lit square._

_ "Look away, little princess," he says as the man is burned alive._

_ She does not obey._

"The fleets have gone out," a man splattered with blood says, bowing to Fire Lord Ozai. Zuko walks in slowly. Azula was brave enough to stand in the middle of the carnage, but he slinks in with his tail between his legs after the violence is over.

"Bring me the girl and her parents. Move as I've told you," Ozai says and his three guards leave the corpses behind and move with preternatural speed to carry out his orders.

"What girl?" Azula asks, refusing to stand down. Ozai sighs, realizing he has no choice but to explain to Azula, or else she will start meddling, and she is not an enemy he wants to have.

"Your bride-to-be. I'm taking the Colony Kingdom. The sovereignty is disturbing. You wanted to know what I gained from your marriage? Now you do," Ozai says. "Think of it this way; you'll have much more to reign over when this is finished. Now go to your room."

Azula's lips part in surprise; Zuko's eyes are wide. The prince and princess disappear into the halls with a glance from their father.

"I think he wanted us to see that," Azula says to her brother as they walk through the shadowy corridors. "He wants us to─"

"Azula, stop psychoanalyzing father and take what he's giving you," Zuko says sharply. "His moves─"

"Are to spite dear departed Fire Lord Azulon half of the time. This invasion is pointless. Why invade land we already─?"

"Azula. Leave it," Zuko says brusquely and Azula's fist lights up in cerulean. Yet, instead of knocking respect into Zuko, she restrains herself and turns down the hall to her room, abandoning her all-too-submissive brother.

She expects Mai to be there, but she is gone. More and more suspicious things grow. Azula does not like being part of her father's game.

Princess Azula's door is opened exactly fifty-three minutes later. She has lied in her bed counting seconds as she waited for the rest of her father's plans to be carried out. So he means to stretch the empire; as if it even matters. And Azula is supposed to smile and wed a colony trash bride and he is _bribing _her but she does not know why and none of this makes any sense to h─

"What's happening, princess?" says the high and sweet voice of her fiancée. The door shuts behind Ty Lee and she sits down next to Azula on the bed.

"Your family is going to die," Azula replies to the rather frightened girl, and presses their lips together instantly afterwards. Ty Lee's eyes are wide as the kiss lingers, Azula's force bitter. She seems wounded and Ty Lee wants to say something, but she leans forward and strokes the princess's back with delicate fingers.

Azula leans against the headboard of her bed as Ty Lee slips on top of her. It is a mutual decision, wordless, as Azula has a rather terrifying gleam in her eyes. She smells of blood and Ty Lee has the scent of cinnamon.

Ty Lee slips down on Azula's body, undoing her robe with ease, touching her lips to one of her breasts. Her mouth lingers momentarily there. Azula touches her neck, fingernails against it. Ty Lee slides lower, leaving damp saliva on pallid royal skin. She kisses her navel, dips lower. Azula pulls her up with surprising ease, shockingly strong arms.

She flips the positions, wet, hot and throbbing. Marks are left on Ty Lee's neck as Azula sucks on it, teeth touching skin in a way that draws out a moan. The motions are confused and frantic, the night angry and whatever is happening overwhelming to Ty Lee.

Ty Lee was yanked from her beautiful quarters, her parents ripped from her, her siblings separated, and she wound up in the princess's bedroom.

Azula licks her out and it feels good with layers of guilt. Her family could be in the midst of execution and here she is gasping and moaning with a future wife who does not love her. Orgasm washes over her in a wild heat and Azula still has her pinned.

"Why are you crying?" Azula asks and Ty Lee is surprised. She did not notice she was, but she touches her face and finds them wet and salted. Azula is a mess, dripping with sweat, her jaw sore from anger at her father, her tongue tasting of her future bride. "You were spared. You'll be Fire Lady and they all will burn..."

Ty Lee presses her lips against Azula's forcefully. Azula's body shakes with the motion as she slips her hand behind Ty Lee's back. Ty Lee realizes at that moment that everything she loves will be gone, razed to the ground, and she can only take what she has now.

She will love Azula hollowly and wholeheartedly, as she surrenders herself to a game meant for smarter people than she is. Azula kisses her forcefully, her fingertips sliding up Ty Lee's skirt. And Ty Lee moans because she no longer cares about being anxious or pretty or perfect for her bride. Azula slides her onto her back, taking her ever so slowly with drawn out kisses, burning, feverish across her body that is stripped bare. Her nipples are hard, her body wanting, but she feels thoroughly and utterly sickened by what she is doing.

"I can't do this," Ty Lee murmurs as Azula reaches towards her breast and Azula pulls away, sitting up. She wishes she were with Mai briefly, but she decides she might as well make an effort for her future wife. The woman who will reign beside her in the ashes of what once were kingdoms. "Azula, tell me what's happening? Where did they take my family?"

"My father is taking back the Colony Kingdoms. He's killing the kings and making it all his. It will be _ours_." Azula seems to think that the last part justifies the rest.

"They can't destroy my home!" Ty Lee shrieks, trying to pull away but giving up halfway through. "They can't just _use _our marriage like that..."

"You're very upset about your home being destroyed," Azula says smoothly, ignoring the heat in her body. "I would be as well, if... if that were to happen to me. But you have to admit you're─"

"Very _fortunate_. I know, princess," Ty Lee says, sitting up. Azula bites down on her lip to keep from doing anything dangerous. "I absolutely am so _lucky _that I'm spared."

"I didn't know about this. You know that, don't you?" Azula says, slipping forward and straddling her. Ty Lee takes a deep breath and lets her do it. She obviously means well. She _must _mean well. "I feel as _used _as you do. In my family, things are not always exactly what they seem."

"I want to go home." She has no home to return to.

Azula kisses her neck and she fights the urge to shiver. "You're part of my family now. It gets easier to be Pai Sho pieces in other people's games."

Her fingernail runs down Ty Lee's abdomen and Ty Lee is only reminded of katanas slicing those in support of the Colony Kingdom from neck to groin. A slight trail of red is left on her peachy skin, a slight shiver with in her, the hardness of nipples and heat of arousal. And the burning desire for revenge that the optimist has never felt before.

"But you know what we have to do?" Azula purrs and Ty Lee swallows. "We have to start making moves of our own."

Their lips meet and Ty Lee closes her eyes.

* * *

><p>"You had that boy's throat ripped out," Ty Lee whispers in the dark of the night. Azula has her eyes open, the pale moonlight reflecting on her golden irises. "For talking to me."<p>

"Of course I did. He was flirting with you," Azula purrs airily, turning on her side. "Are you angry or something?"

Ty Lee hesitates. She purses her lips momentarily as Azula studies her closely.

"So you would kill for me?" Ty Lee inquires and Azula is startled, although she does not show it.

"Yes," Azula responds airily, shrugging. The blankets shift with her motions.

"When we make our moves, I want you to rip their throats out."

Azula smirks.

Oh how corrupt the circus freak has become.

And so quickly.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: This is the last chapter. I decided against the epilogue because the story ended on a dark note and the epilogue is, well, fluffy. It just doesn't vibe well with the end of the story.

* * *

><p>Chapter Four<p>

* * *

><p>Ty Lee wakes up crying. And gasping. Azula has been staring at the ceiling for the entire night as her fiancée fell asleep, after the acrobat sobbed hysterically for some time. Azula hesitantly tried to console her, but ultimately made it worse, and therefore they have been in relative silence since.<p>

"I want to go home," Ty Lee says, her voice small, as if in a box. Azula does not know what to say to that; she slowly sits up and tries to think of a solution.

"I know you do," Azula replies, trying not to sound annoyed. "But I don't think you have a home anymore."

More hysterical crying. Azula cringes; she does not know what to say. Her father taught her never to cry; for her life she knew that crying would get her nothing. Giving up would get her nothing. Telling people of her situations would only make them worse, and so she has always suffered in silence.

"I'm not usually... I'm not usually like this," Ty Lee stammers between sobs and Azula chews on the inside of her cheek. She knows that something must be done, but she does not have any idea exactly _what _that could be. "I know I should be happy..."

"You have no reason to be happy," Azula says before realizing she only made it worse. Ty Lee sobs again, this time sucking in breath and choking on her own tears. "I, well..." Azula gives up. She draws her knees to her chest and swallows.

Her gift has been well received, but of course it was only to further her father's political agenda. Azula takes Ty Lee by the hand and the girl seems to like it. She rubs her thumb around Azula's palm and Azula takes a deep breath; it's going better now, at least.

"Why don't you take a shower and try to pull yourself together? If my father is really invading the colonies, he'll probably hold an audience with us," Azula purrs, swallowing and attempting her sweetest tone. Ty Lee responds well to it, suddenly kissing Azula on the lips. She tastes damp and like salt from the crying, but Azula bears it and leads her to the bathroom.

Azula shuts the door behind her with a click and finds the knobs for the shower. Fire Nation ingenuity at its best; yes, they can build tanks, dreadnoughts and cities made of steel, but the shower, Azula thinks, is her favorite invention. She heats the water with her own bending, turning it on. Ty Lee is still sniffling, bawling like a baby but Azula is trying to keep it under control.

"I hate being used like this as well. To keep up appearances; it disgusts me," Azula offers as she gestures at the gilded box. The water pours and splashes onto her ankles as she waits for Ty Lee to respond, or at least stop wailing.

Ty Lee brushes past Azula, slipping off her nightgown and walking into the water. It burns her skin at first but she almost enjoys the pain at this point. It all feels... surreal. She untangles her braid in the water as she watches Azula start to return to her room.

"Stay with me," Ty Lee says loudly, her voice constricted with emotion. Azula exhales sharply and turns on her heel, stepping back into the bathroom. She never was good with other people's emotions, nor her own emotions.

They are in silence for a moment, as Azula isn't sure if she should be looking at her fiancée or not. She is masked by water, her tears and sweat swirling down a drain driven into the floor with hasty nails. Azula stands mute, her cavalier confidence melted by the precipice before her. Where she has to choose what she is going to do with the hand her father has dealt.

"I think you have feelings," Ty Lee says abruptly, the water dripping around her.

"That's cute," Azula replies sharply, crossing her arms.

"I think you're a human. Not just Princess Azula the Conqueror," Ty Lee says and Azula wants to shut off the water and... she doesn't know... the violent thoughts fade. Sleeping with Mai was never this confusing.

"You'd be mistaken," Azula replies coldly, her tone ice water laced with glacial fire. Her heart beats too fast as she looks a little too long.

She slips off her clothes, a nightgown discarded around her ankles. Driven to do things she thinks she might regret but, not regret because regrets are unprofessional. Princess Azula the Conqueror doesn't believe in regrets, and so she presses her lips against the girl and slides her hand behind her back, slipping across the slick and wet surface of her smooth skin.

Azula is doused, water dripping over her as it turns cold. Ty Lee has been in too long and Azula does not care as the cold water collides with her feverish skin. She slips her lips down to Ty Lee's neck, lips against sensitive skin, tasting the water that washed away all the pain and left only emptiness.

Only emptiness remains.

Azula runs her nails gently along Ty Lee's spine, moving forward with more force than she intended. Against the wall, the wet wall that her damp hair sticks to. The water drips onto Princess Azula as her hands wander across a body she is getting more familiar with than she wants to be. They dance on the edge of destruction, the red string of fate tying them together the string that holds the Sword of Damocles.

Tongues intertwine, lips not daring to part because once they breathed they would have to admit that this is real. Azula's leg slips up, cores touching as they tumble in the slowly fading water. It starts rushing over them like a waterfall and leaves them sticky and wet in more ways than one as Azula finds herself against the wall and Ty Lee slipping down on her, her lips leaving dry yet wet traces on Azula's skin.

A moan, a shiver, a gasp. Princess Azula does not regret; regrets are unprofessional.

They break apart and Azula pulls Ty Lee to her feet like her lady, like her Fire Lady, not like some kind of sex pet.

If Azula asked Ty Lee to jump, Ty Lee would ask _"How high?"_

Their cleavage is pressed against each other in a misguided embrace, hard nipples chafing against each other, over slick skin that is starting to dry although they are both dripping wet.

_"Rip their throats out." _Azula will. She will tear them from their flesh with her own hands, not with the hands of her thralls.

It ends too soon, slipping and stumbling to the bed, nails running across skin and Ty Lee is imagining that she is being sliced open and bared to someone who would only abuse the openness. But she might as well, because she has nothing to lose as Fire Lord Ozai destroys everything she ever cared about.

Love at first sight is overrated; it isn't remarkable. It's a combination of lust and desire that cannot be resolved until the lascivious images are lived out. That was what they felt when Ty Lee removed the blue silk lingerie from her body and gave herself to a perfect stranger.

Love at first sight is not remarkable; it is only remarkable when two people have been staring at each other for a long time. That's when it is something overpowering.

And Azula pretends she doesn't feel it. Ty Lee keeps her mouth shut as her heart beats against her chest as if it wants to escape.

"I will destroy them for you," Azula murmurs. "I will burn it all to the ground, and in my reign of fire you'll be my queen."

Ty Lee suppresses a smile. "How romantic," she whispers back, her voice like wind-chimes on a placid day. "You barely know me."

Azula kisses her, looming over her like a lurking fear that Ty Lee wants to fuck and then hold endlessly.

"And people say I'm the liar."

They lie there, intertwined, and don't need to say anything.

It is at that moment that Ty Lee believes that you can learn to love someone you are forced into.

_Or maybe she is blinded by lust._

But Azula looks more beautiful right now than she ever did before.

* * *

><p>"So, your father is going to claim the colonies. How surprising," Mai remarks dryly and Azula frowns faintly. "It seems <em>exactly <em>like the kind of thing he would do. But your girlfriend seems pretty shocked."

"I don't particularly like being part of my father's revenge against the rebellion," Azula replies, sighing. She picks at her fingernails, pretending to be bored, but in all honesty, she genuinely cares.

"He's a terrible person. We all know," Mai responds, pressing her lips against Azula's. Azula slips one leg around Mai's back, shifting her position on the antique sofa. It creaks beneath them as Azula straddles her paramour. "I don't know why you care. Just more for you to rule someday."

Mai sighs and Azula bites her lip. She was hoping for a response, but Mai barely moves in response to Azula's teeth.

"You're falling in love with her," Mai says quietly, slipping off Azula's shirt.

"I absolutely _am not_," Azula snarls with such vehemence that she confirms Mai's suspicion. "She is _nothing _to me."

"Of course, princess," Mai responds flatly, untying the ribbons on Azula's bra.

"No, stop it. I'm bored." Azula stands up, reclaiming her clothing. Mai sighs loudly, rolling her eyes. "I don't _love _anyone. Not even my own family. It is completely out of your place to accuse me of─"

"You're protesting an awful lot, princess," Mai responds with a small smirk.

Azula exits the room huffily, slamming the door behind her three times. None of the violent motions made her feel any better, so she slips off to her bedroom and lies down.

_Ugh_. It's not like you can develop feelings for someone that _fast _anyway. It's a forced marriage and Azula _does not _love her, and _never will_.

She buries her face in one of her pillows.

Ty Lee walks in and Azula sharply remarks, "No disturbances. Get out."

It is as if their morning means nothing. Maybe Ty Lee imagined the glances exchanged with golden eyes that could only see her. They saw nothing but her; they were not conniving, not worlds away. But maybe Ty Lee imagined it so she could distance herself from her home that will be destroyed and she will rule over the ash where all she loved once stood.

"Are you okay?" Ty Lee asks, breaking rule number one of talking to Azula. _Never _ask if she is okay.

"I don't love you, okay? I don't love anyone," Azula says out of nowhere and Ty Lee's lip trembles. Her protuberant eyes swell with tears and it brings out a rage in Azula. An anger only reserved for those who dare defy her, but she feels that she has defied herself. "You should stay away. It's too confusing to be around you."

Honesty. Ty Lee is surprised.

She hesitates, examining Azula with eyes that scream _hurt_.

"As you desire, princess." Her words are cold and rehearsed.

How quickly the flame that grew was quenched.

As hunger was satisfied, Ty Lee imagined the embers would be of love. But that was assuming that Azula was a human, with feelings, and not a beautiful monster that Ty Lee just longs to lie beside and watch her conquer the world.

She avoids Princess Azula in the palace, trying to busy herself with preparations for the rapidly approaching wedding.

* * *

><p>Fire Lord Ozai approaches Ty Lee as she is overseeing servants tying bouquets for the tables at the wedding. He touches her shoulder and she feels as if she has had a dagger driven into her. She composes her expression and turns to face the man who will destroy her home.<p>

"I want to talk to you. Alone," he says, his voice a gravelly growl that makes Ty Lee's stomach churn. She gets up wordlessly and follows him to the dusty hallway.

"Yes, Fire Lord Ozai?" Ty Lee asks hesitantly, her mouth dry.

"I think it would be in your best interest to renounce your old family about now. Do you love my daughter?"

"I don't... I don't know," Ty Lee stammers and he looks about to slap her.

"I think your answer should be _yes_, if you know what's best for you. You're spared from the massacre that's coming. Forget about all of them, and don't go out of the sight of my family members. Treason is hereditary, in my eyes," Ozai says and Ty Lee takes a deep breath to steady herself. "Do you love my daughter?"

"I love Princess Azula more than my own life. I wouldn't ever betray the royal family and risk my love for her ending," Ty Lee says, her words forced and plastic. But Ozai nods.

And he is gone, leaving Ty Lee shaking like a leaf in the wind.

* * *

><p>"I don't think I can do this anymore," Azula says as her lips touch Mai's for the thousandth time.<p>

"You see, you say that, but you'll come back in two days," Mai replies, running her fingertips along Azula's breasts. Her hard nipples negate her desire to break all ties. "Just relax, princess. It isn't as if we're notorious for our morality and loyalty."

Azula fucks her. She fucks her and she is plagued with images of a girl who is a forced wife. An arranged marriage. Pointless, useless, a toy her father gave her to distract her from his desire to control her.

* * *

><p>"I'm doing this for you, little princess," father says, as if that is some kind of consolation. He is in his office, planning the strikes on the Colony Kingdoms. He will raze them to the ground and build his desires in the ashes. It will all burn and Azula will be given it as an unwanted gift, like Ty Lee was.<p>

_"A gift you are," _she felt foolish saying. Maybe she meant it. Maybe she was just leading on her new pet.

"I know, father," Azula lies and he believes her. He strokes her neck, and pulls her close to him. She hates the smell of his cologne, hates how he thinks he is a good father when she has always been part of his political agenda.

"Just think about your wedding. Your mind is too occupied with warfare," he breathes into her hair. She allows it, not moving until she breaks away and gazes at him, searching for answers.

"Why would you marry me to the child of a rebel? Is this your way of asserting power over them. Asserting power over me? You just look like a fool."

His hand collides with her face and she shrieks. He has never, he would never. Father wouldn't do that to her. She is grabbed from behind and pulled too close to him. He brushes her hair out of her face so that his mouth almost touches her ear for the words he relays.

"Don't test me Azula. I will make another you. I made you. I own you. You do what I want and you get an empire," he breathes, the tension in his words palpable. Azula bites back tears and doesn't fight.

Because it is a waste of time.

She is as much a slave as Ty Lee.

* * *

><p>Azula trains incessantly. She twists around with lightning on her fingertips, trying to focus on making electricity instead of making plans against her father. Objecting is not worth her time. She is a weapon of war, of mass destruction, and she exercises her power through her fingertips. It clears her mind, clears it of the blossoming feelings for a girl who amounts to a stranger.<p>

"That's beautiful," comes a voice Azula does not want to hear. But she puts on as welcoming of a face as she can and turns to face Ty Lee.

"It's a deadly weapon," Azula corrects, walking forward with overconfident strides and pressing her lips against her fiancée. _Her _fiancée. An arrangement that is not as bad as she would have assumed, even as the one with the power to choose.

"But it's pretty too," Ty Lee protests as the kiss breaks. Azula pauses but does not correct her. She slips away, their fingertips grazing each other. "I heard the invasion starts tomorrow."

"Don't ask me to do something about it. I can't and I won't," Azula replies, cracking her knuckles. She wants to return to her training, but she turns to her soon-to-be bride. "They'll execute your family, you know?"

Azula does not know why she said it, but it makes Ty Lee's lips tremble again. She seems to be a wreck of emotion and Azula does not envy her position. And Ty Lee is finding it incredibly hard to be an optimist about this. She is fading and folding into herself, and she can only cling to the only person she mildly trusts.

But trusting Azula... feels unwise.

"I don't want to think about this," Ty Lee says, her voice cracking.

"I'll take you somewhere. Get out of this palace," Azula offers and Ty Lee's eyes briefly widen in surprise. Azula is unpredictable and Ty Lee does not know if she likes it or not. "Come on."

An hour later, Azula holds Ty Lee's hand as they walk through one of the nicer districts of the Capitol. Their hands are sweaty but they do not break apart; they have no desire to break apart. It looks good; it keeps up appearances that everything is blissful in the royal family. And Ty Lee feels a slight fluttering inside of her heart when she feels Azula's hand against hers.

The princess is beautiful and Ty Lee thinks she is in love with her, even if it is not reciprocated. It isn't easy, but she for a few moments can pretend that her life has not collapsed on herself. That she isn't experiencing culture shock of being a circus freak in the Capitol of the Fire Nation. That the marriage isn't a forced political move.

"Do you want something to eat?" Azula asks, a strained and forced kindness in her voice.

"Yeah," Ty Lee replies and Azula is relieved to hear her voice is not constricted by tears for the first time in days. And Ty Lee is feeling far more like herself when she can close out the thoughts in her mind and just cling onto a ridiculous kind of ignorance.

Street food. Not the kind of thing Azula eats: not the kind of thing Azula is allowed to eat. Noodles held in hands as they walk, close together, hips nearly touching. And Ty Lee is telling her some boring story that she pretends to listen to, because Ty Lee talks a lot but does not say much. Or at least much that is interesting.

They buy useless trinkets and that seems to bring a smile to Ty Lee's face. She forgets so easily, is so quickly absorbed in expensive jewelry and useless baubles. Azula watches her, trying to figure her out, trying to read impossible, big eyes that say very little. They seem a quiet kind of sad and a loud kind of happy. The princess wants to know why she is so attracted to someone like her. Someone who has not been absorbed by shadow like Azula was long ago.

Too naive. Too much of a pretty little thing with no real cares.

_But how she cries at night._

They arrive at the palace to a sea of generals. Ty Lee wraps herself around Azula, clearly perturbed by it. Azula wants to shout at them to disperse, but she hesitates. Maybe father is right. Maybe the Colony Kingdoms deserve to fall and submit to him. To _her _eventually.

"Let's just go to bed," Azula says as tenderly as she can manage. She always had an easy time playing people. The right tone of voice, the right words to say, all culminate in a girl who rarely ever says what she means, and almost never means what she says.

The girls reach their bedroom.

"I had fun with you today, princess," Ty Lee says, smiling at her. Azula opens her mouth to speak and then closes it. "I think I'm falling for you. I have to be honest."

Azula does not know what to say. "It's mutual." She doesn't know if she is honest or not. Maybe it is mutual, maybe not. It's too confusing. Far too confusing.

"I thought you didn't love me. I thought it was too confusing to be around me," Ty Lee says, a sudden dark hint to her usual airheaded words. Azula kisses her to silence her, to not be asked further questions.

Azula runs her fingertips along the inside of Ty Lee's thighs and the acrobat realizes she is as confused as Azula is. After all of the crying she did not understand, she still feels the need to submit her body, to submit her body and to love it.

Ty Lee kisses Azula's neck and touches her waist. The touch is delicate and Azula wants it to be rough, wants it to hurt because she cannot admit to herself that there might be a spark beyond the sexual.

They are burning like paper set on fire. And they singe and moan in a combination of twisted limbs. Azula has her legs wrapped around her fiancée, grinding against her with such ease that Ty Lee does not know what to do.

It doesn't feel hollow, although repetitive. A war of tongues, a desperate clawing, a distinct lack of penetration. And they fall beside each other, naked and glistening. Ty Lee doesn't feel like crying anymore. Azula looks at her half closed eyes, her blissful expression and wonders why she so struggles to read her.

"What happened to your mother?" Ty Lee asks abruptly and Azula grits her teeth.

"That doesn't matter to you," Azula snarls and Ty Lee's brow furrows in slight shock and fear. "Just go to sleep."

And Ty Lee, as always, complies.

* * *

><p>"I know why I think I'm in love with her," Azula says to Mai. They stand on a balcony after Azula escaped a war meeting. The invasion is tomorrow and Azula is grappling more with a petty teenage romance than the land that will be hers someday.<p>

"Tell me," Mai says, sounding bored.

"Because I can't read her. I can tell about people just from their eyes. But she... I can't," Azula admits, feeling a twisting sensation in her gut for being so honest. Mai snorts and Azula nearly pushes her off the balcony.

"She's not that bright. There probably isn't much going on behind her eyes."

"You _shut up_," Azula says sharply before realizing she is defending the insignificant girl. The insignificant girl that she _cannot _stop thinking about no matter how hard she tries.

"Or," Mai says, her left eye twitching slightly. Azula has pissed her off, and, to tell the truth, Azula does not care anymore, "maybe you're just not as much of a people person as you thought."

Mai walks away and she doesn't turn back.

Azula doesn't want her to.

* * *

><p>The invasion is today.<p>

Ty Lee wakes up feeling sick as Azula tells her to get dressed and look pretty. She puts on her best red dress and does her make-up so that her eyes sparkle even more than they usually do. Azula looks stunning and she takes Ty Lee's hand.

"You'll live," Azula says, as if that means anything. Ty Lee smiles at her and does not respond, but Azula does not need her to.

They walk together to the balcony, as the Fire Sages give some speech and Fire Lord Ozai rallies the public around his decision. Ty Lee watches, frozen in fear, as she sees the people she knows. Leaders of the Colony Kingdom.

Her father wanted her marriage to Princess Azula to further his political career. He said he would let the entire Fire Nation fuck her to gain more power. But when he surrendered his daughter he surrendered in war.

Azula rubs her thumb along Ty Lee's smooth palm and it feels nice, although Ty Lee feels acidic bile in her throat. Ty Lee notices that she is not looking at Mai. Azula's golden eyes flicker to Ty Lee upon occasion and it makes the acrobat feel like the most important person in the world.

"Don't look," Azula whispers abruptly as Ty Lee's eyes have glazed over. The speech, the cheering, heads being lobbed off of people she knew in her childhood. "Whatever you do, don't look."

Ty Lee glances up at her fiancée and wonders when she started caring. She steps towards Azula and buries her face in her shoulder.

_Wedding dress fittings. Ty Lee looks in the mirror and feels absolutely beautiful in her ruby studded gown. Flowers are braided in her hair and she looks as she will when she weds the princess and is readied to be Fire Lady someday._

_"I feel gorgeous!" Ty Lee squeals, excited. She is luminescent right now; restored to her former self before she became a prisoner of the royal family. Before she became so hollow. All it took was a nice dress._

_ "You look nice," Azula says and Ty Lee is startled at the compliment. The princess rarely has anything pleasant to say, or any kindness in her words._

_ Ty Lee smiles at the compliment and wonders why it means so much to her. People tell her that she is beautiful every day, but from the princess, it makes her stomach flutter and her mouth sting._

_ Azula is next._

When she looks up, she realizes that it is all over. They're dead. Her father is dead and she is completely and entirely alone. In three days, Ty Lee will be married. Today, she became an orphan. And she has nothing to say but, "Thank you, princess."

"Of course," Azula replies smoothly, her tone like ice. And Ty Lee swallows her tears and puts on a pretty face for the public. "You must like all the attention on you."

"Mhm," is all Ty Lee can manage without vomiting.

That night, they lie together in bed, close together. The heat radiates from Azula's body, although Ty Lee feels cold all over, as if her blood has turned into ice.

"You promised you would rip their throats out," Ty Lee murmurs as Azula strokes her hair. She wonders if this relationship will ever be healthy.

"I will."

"I was hoping it would be before my parents were beheaded," Ty Lee says softly and Azula clenches her jaw. "I'm sorry, princess. Forgive me."

"They will pay, they will. But for now..." Azula trails off. Ty Lee's eyes sparkle with tears. "You want to know what happened to my mother?"

"No," Ty Lee whispers, examining Azula closely.

"She died. She committed treason and she died."

"Executed."

"No. She just disappeared. Left us. Father says she died," Azula says with such earnestness that Ty Lee does not know what to say. "My first girlfriend was executed, though. Father didn't like how close I had become to her and he had her executed for supposedly raping me. Everybody goes away in the end, Ty Lee. You just have to get used to it."

"I don't want to leave you, princess," Ty Lee says, wondering how insane she is. She might as well be a captive of the royal family and here she is declaring her love for the cruel princess who orders Ty Lee around because it pleases her.

Azula is silent for a moment. She purses her lips in thought.

"I don't want to lose you either," Azula says and Ty Lee smiles faintly. "I think I might kind of like you. A little."

"I like you a little too, princess." A small laugh in spite of all of the terrible things that have happened to her.

There is the slim chance of falling in love.

**The End**

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><p>AN: So I never really intended for such an ambiguous ending. But this was an exercise in darkness and smut, where Ty Lee has Stockholm Syndrome essentially. And this was just the twisted side of me typed out for some reason. I hope it isn't disappointing to have such an open ended ending. It originally had an epilogue that was pretty sweet and fluffy, but it didn't vibe well with the twisted Ty Lee as a prisoner misguidedly in love with her captors ala Sansa in _Game of Thrones_, but if people would like, I would post the epilogue as a oneshot.


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